TLC Series ‘Breaking Amish’ Faces Accusations of Fraud

After new series “Breaking Amish” opened to terrific numbers on TLC, the channel now has a controversy on its hands.

The program has been promoted as a look at five Amish and Mennonite people who decide to leave the security of their communities behind for the first time in exchange for the rigors of New York City. However, multiple reports have surfaced that the fish-out-of-water reality stars weren’t really out of their element after all.

In fact, the reports state that individuals on the show not only left their communities years ago, but are also “married, had children and divorced since entering mainstream society,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. Older pictures of the stars at play have also reportedly been found on Facebook and have been documented over on xamishatheist.com.

TLC has since released a statement to address the swelling rumors, saying, “There is a lot of information floating around about the group featured on Breaking Amish. Much of it is not true, but some of it is — and is addressed in upcoming episodes.”

The rookie series has two episodes under its belt as part of a ten-episode order. The first two episodes averaged nearly 3 million viewers to make the show the most-watched series premiere in three years. Yes, that is even better than the famed “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.”